‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Season 2 and ‘Agent Carter’ Confirmed by ABC

TV is quickly becoming like the cineplex, as the most anticipated and high-profile new shows in the fall 2014 – spring 2015 season are comic book TV series. DC Comics and Warner Bros will have no less than five shows airing in the fall (Arrow, Constantine, The Flash, iZombieand Gotham); however, Marvel is following suit by finally confirming previous speculation that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.will get a season 2 renewal, and that the previously announced Agent Carterseries has been ordered directly to series by ABC.

We have a whole separate editorial about why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. deserves its season 2 renewal, but to give you the short version:

Despite some big stumbles coming out of the gate (namely flat characters, a cheesy tone, and an overall lack of synergy with the big movies), the show has gained its footing since the winter hiatus, managing to find interesting ways to open up the characters and establish a more adult espionage drama tone. Thanks to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and some appearances by second-tier Marvel movie stars, the ties to the cinematic universe have become tighter and more relevant- to the benefit of both the show and the films.

Agent Carter

The more interesting part of Deadline‘s report on Marvel’s TV offerings is the announcement that Agent Carter has been ordered straight to series by ABC. The titular character was introduced to the MCU in Captain America: The First Avenger as both a warrior and love interest worthy of Steve Rogers; the character has since made appearances in her own Marvel One-Shot short, as well as getting a moving (and tragic) epilogue in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That foundation is what motivated ABC to commit to a series order.

Hayley Atwell’s contract with Marvel was extended, and the actress will be starring in this TV adaptation of her character. The burning questions is: What will a Peggy Carter TV show be about? Here’s what we know so far:

It’s set in 1946, a year after the end of WWII. (Period piece.)

The show deals with Peggy returning home to world where her sex makes her marginalized in society – especially as a single woman/warrior whose heart is broken by the loss of Steve Rogers.

The hook is that Peggy goes to work for SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), running secret missions for Howard Stark – presumably the first threads of what will eventually become S.H.I.E.L.D.

It’s mentioned that Agent Carter could be used as a bridge gap between the fall and spring halves of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Agent Carter series is a somewhat bold move – but it is not at all unwise, for some key reasons:

Marvel is getting in front of the “diversification race” by launching a major property centered on a female character, with female showrunners, in a way that actually acknowledges female concerns (as reflected through an old era).

Atwell and her performance were a distinctly strong part of First Avenger, so the character is already proven as effective.

Months ago (when the pilot script was written) if you had asked us if Agent Carter was Marvel TV’s smartest move, we might’ve scoffed; however, Captain America 2, the latter half of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1 and a whole lot of HYDRA have altered the playing field in Agent Carter‘s favor.

On a business side of things, the “Agent” title being shared between shows creates a more cohesive overall brand for the TV branch of the MCU.

Seriously, the events of Winter Soldier and HYDRA’s big reveal have sparked interest in this corner of the MCU like never before. Even though Captain America 1 & 2 pretty much bookend Peggy Carter’s story in this universe, given what we know now, the prospect of watching her, Howard Stark and Col. Phillips build S.H.I.E.L.D. – only to be infiltrated and undermined by HYDRA – is the sort of journey whose pleasures make the destination irrelevant. In other words: this concept is fertile ground on which to build a solid multi-season show.

The question now turns to the usual Marvel Shared Universe concerns: Will movie actors like Dominic Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones step onto the small screen to reprise their roles as young Howard Stark and Col. Phillips (respectively) in the series? Will we see pivotal moments like Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola being brought in to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Will we see any of the Howling Commandos actors? What other secrets about the MCU (or previously unseen characters) will this series offer? And how, exactly, will it correlate to the events of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and upcoming Marvel movies?

Details will be forthcoming as the show approaches its premiere date – but for now, just one question matters: Will you be tuning in to the Marvel TV universe this fall?

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 2 and Agent Carterwill soon have official premiere dates and times. We’ll keep you posted.

And this is why it’s smart to give a show at least a full season before bashing it to high heaven for starting off slow. Nice to see AoS is getting a second season and that Peggy Carter is getting her own show.

To be honest we are all “excited” that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D is getting a second season cause we want to see the show get better.Its o.k right now.I watch it every week but hoping for something epic to happen which doesn’t happen.We are living off of hope that the show meets our expectations.I know I am.I want them to introduce A.I.M next season and have a 3 way war between S.H.I.E.L.D or whatever they want to call themselves now.Hydra and A.I.M.All they have to do is introduce M.O.D.O.K and I’m all the way in.And just for me,bring in Sam Rockwell to play Justin Hammer and have him meet with the kid that played Blizzard and have him make a suit for him.Season 2 would be EPIC if they did that.If there are certain Marvel storylines that they are not going to bring to the big screen then pass them on as small episodes in Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agent Carter seems interesting if it shows how S.H.I.E.L.D was first formed.

Can they at least give us Spider-Woman, TaskMaster and maybe MoonKnight in the 2nd season. You could tease all the phase 3 characters Marvel plans on making movies out of, and introduce them in the 2nd season. A recon mission in wakanda, a trip to a shield outpost below the ocean near Atlantis.

I hope the Agent Carter show and the Ant Man film (and sequels) provide fans with a look at super hero’s and villains from the past.

The Agent Carter show can focus on the late 40′s and 1950s, while the Ant Man films can focus on the 60′s. I was hoping that Marvel would makes some blacksploitation 1970′s era films too, but it seems Luke Cage and Iron Fist will be included in the current MCU. And a Cloak and Dagger show / film that focuses on the drug epidemic of the 80′s and 90′s.

Actually Agent Carter can cover the whole time period as she is still alive in The Winter Soldier (from before the end of WW2 to now). We can see the beginnings of Ant Man in her series, the original Torch, Zola’s contributions, the beginnings of Shield and Hydra, Stark and Venko and the arc reactor, early Stane, Stark’s murder, the loss of Caps parents (and whether that was also an assassination), the early hover tech, the search for more vibranium, the beginnings of Ultron, the Howling Commandos, early Fury, Alexander Pierce, Tommy Lee, Bucky, more experimentationing with the super soldier serum, and a whole host of early heroes/villains that haven’t even been mentioned in the MCU yet. Not to mention Asgardians popping up throughout history. We may even see crossovers with AoS like where the blue man originated, etc….
I can’t wait!
PS: And of course the beautiful, smart and sexy Hayley Atwell to boot!

I would check out the marvel universe website but really you have to read the comics…the marvel universe is its own crazy history…with characters and rewrites every decade…Like someone said basing shows off comics gives you a fertile ground to work with because there have been so many characters written that you can bring them in anytime…im so glad marvel decided to start filming there own stories so they can do them justice…

….Agents of Atlas is a super clandestine group of non super & super human agents brought together to fight super & supernatural threats in the 40′s & 0n…
CHaracters include Marvel Boy (he’s a saturnian), Namora, a guy who’s a gorilla & so on. Agents of Atlas could easily be folded into the world of Agent Carter. And seeing as they are all actually revived half a century later(see the comics that started up in 2009 or so) they could also show up in Agents of Shield). Ahhh, comics universes; they offer so much story possibilities!